Online presence is crucial for your business, regardless of its scale. The best way to achieve that is by creating an attractive website that engages users and drives traffic and conversions.
Our experts, who also provide enterprises and SMBs with web development services, have created a comprehensive guide to walk you through the essential steps and considerations when making a small business website in 2024 – from choosing a domain name and web host to optimizing for search engines to keeping your site updated.
Follow these tips, and you’ll have an effective online presence to help you grow your brand and customer base.
Choose A Domain Name
Your domain name is the web address visitors use to access your site. The right domain can boost your brand and improve SEO, driving more traffic to your site. Here are five tips for picking the best small business domain in 2024:
Include Your Brand Name
Choose a domain name that includes your business name or a variation of it. This helps reinforce your brand identity online. For example, if your biz is called “ABC Company,” domains like abccompany.com or abc-co.com work well.
Incorporate Keywords
Include relevant keywords in your domain that describe your niche, products, or services. This signals search engines what your site is about, improving SEO. Just don’t over-stuff keywords. For a wedding photography business, weddingphotos.com is a good option.
Use A .com Extension
.com is the most recognized domain extension. Opt for .com if available to make your site easy to find and remember. If yourideal.com is taken, try alternatives like .net or .biz before adding extra words, numbers/symbols.
Keep It Short
Choose a short, punchy domain name. Long, complex names take time to recall and type in. Stick to 25 characters or less when possible. Deleting unnecessary words helps shorten domains.
Check Availability
Search online to see if the domain you want is available for purchase before setting your heart on it. Sites like GoDaddy allow you to check domain availability for cheap. Act fast if you find an ideal available domain name to register it before someone else does.
Once you’ve chosen the perfect domain, it’s time to register it and set up hosting.
Register Your Domain & Choose A Reliable Web Host
Registering your domain and securing web hosting are the next steps in creating your small business website. You have two options:
- Use an all-in-one provider like Wix or Squarespace that handles both registering your domain and hosting your site through their integrated platform.
- Register your domain separately through a domain registrar site, then use a separate web hosting service provider to host your site.
With the second option, you retain full domain ownership no matter where you host. However, it involves coordinating between two companies instead of having everything in one place.
If going the separate route, choose a web host that offers unlimited bandwidth, email accounts, and disk storage space for your site. Quality tech support and site backups are also vital. Excellent uptime of 99.9% or more ensures your site stays live and accessible to visitors at all times.
Top web hosts like InMotion Hosting, Bluehost, and HostGator offer affordable shared hosting plans with features ideal for small businesses. Shared hosting means your site lives on a server with other sites, reducing costs.
A Few Key Hosting Considerations:
- Easy-to-use control panel to manage your site
- Free SSL certificate for secure HTTPS protocol
- Quick page load speeds for a good user experience
- 1-click installer tools for platforms like WordPress
- Email accounts and forwarding
- CDN for fast content delivery
- Migrate To Your Web Host & Choose A Site Builder
Once you set up hosting, it’s time to migrate your domain to point visitors to your host instead of a default placeholder page. Most hosts walk you through connecting your domain seamlessly.
Next, choose a site builder to create your web pages if your host doesn’t have an integrated one. We recommend the WordPress content management system for its power, flexibility, ease of use, and numerous themes and plugins. Wix and Squarespace also allow DIY site building with free templates and drag-and-drop editors, with no coding needed.
Design Your Website Pages
You’re ready to start building out pages and writing content. Great web design presents information in easily digestible formats. Follow principles of effective page layout and navigation for the best user experience.
These essential pages act as the foundation:
- Homepage
- About Page
- Services Page
- Contact Page
Then add other pages/sections as needed, such as:
- Shop or Book Now pages
- Blog/News Section
- Photo Gallery
- Client Testimonials
Ensure cohesive design with consistent:
- Branding – logos, color scheme
- Page layouts – menus, footers, sidebars
- Formatting – fonts, sizes, image styles
- Balance text and images. Write short paragraphs and bullet points instead of big blocks of text. Break things up visually with photos, videos, illustrations, icons, and whitespace.
Navigation should be clear and straightforward. Use neatly organized menus, breadcrumb trails, visual cues, and links, allowing visitors to move between pages easily.
Test your site across devices to address formatting or navigation issues on mobile. Mobile responsiveness is key – over 50% of traffic comes from smartphones.
With a solid informational architecture in place, it’s time to optimize those pages for search engines.
Optimize For Search Engines With SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) entails adapting your site to improve search engine rankings like Google. Higher rankings equal more visibility, traffic, and conversions.
These SEO tips will boost your small business website’s search presence:
- Carefully place relevant keywords in headings, URLs, image names, meta descriptions, and page content. Take your time with it.
- Create blog, news, and services content pages updated regularly with long-form, helpful info.
- Get backlinks from industry websites to raise authority.
- Enable breadcrumbs and XML sitemaps.
- Optimize page speed and mobile experience. Slow sites get penalized.
- Add alt text descriptions to images to aid accessibility.
- Enable HTTPS encrypted protocol and SSL certificate for security.
- Use keywords in metadata and page titles. Keep page titles under 60 characters.
By optimizing content for search bots and real users alike, your website pages have a better chance of ranking well in Google and being shared more.
Review & Launch Your Small Business Site
Before officially launching your website, rigorously review and test every page to catch errors. Fix any broken links, buttons, or images. Read all text closely for typos. Plug any security vulnerabilities.
Have others look over your site on various devices to give feedback. Implement tweaks to maximize user experience and conversion rates.
Using Google Analytics, set up page tracking codes to monitor traffic and visitor behavior moving forward. Define your key performance indicators.
When completely satisfied with the user experience, aesthetics, and functionality, officially launch your small business website! Submit your sitemap to search engines. Spread the word on social media.
With promotional efforts coupled with solid SEO foundations, you’re poised for a surge of visitors discovering your brand online.
Maintaining & Improving Your Website
Launching your site is only the beginning – you must invest ongoing effort into your web presence. Plan to:
- Continuously create fresh blog and service content. This shows activity levels and expertise.
- Keep software like CMS platforms, plugins, and themes updated. Outdated tech poses security risks.
- Monitor site analytics to inform changes aimed at better-converting visitors.
- Use A/B testing to determine what page layouts, headlines, and calls to action perform best.
- Build a reviewer profile by requesting positive client reviews. Feature them on a Testimonials page.
- Research and employ new conversion rate optimization tactics.
- Check backlinking opportunities to continue building domain authority.
- Audit site speed and mobile experience, correcting issues.
- Expand your site as your business offerings grow over time.
By dedicating time each month to maintain and build upon your small business website, your online presence will improve. This fuels sustainable growth through increasing site traffic, leads, and sales over the long haul.
Invest in on-page optimization and thoughtful design upfront, then keep your site refreshed with compelling content. This comprehensive small business website game plan positions you for online success in 2024!
If your team lacks the capabilities required to build an intuitive, inventive web platform, we recommend opting for web development services.
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